Five 2011 Films the Oscars Snubbed

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has a problem. Each year, it neglects or fails to appreciate some of the best films of the year. While it makes a lot of great decisions, often it overlooks certain genres or stories that don’t appeal to them.

With that in mind, here are the five major films that the Academy undervalued in 2011. Although many of the films on this list received a few Oscar nominations, overall the Academy did not give them the credit they are due. Instead of a nod or two, these films deserved much greater recognition and appreciation from the Academy.

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Inception impressed me, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed films like Warrior or Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, or The King’s Speech even.

I do have to say though, I didn’t find it pretentious at all. I think people just responded to it, and any sense of pretense was a creation of the fans. I guess I’d agree that the movie inspired a bunch of pretentious reactions, but the film itself told its story, and it seemed not to be interested in doing more than that.

I would say on the contrary, it seemed interested in not telling the story in as straightforward a manner as possible. When nobody who watches a movie understands it, that doesn’t make it smart. It just makes it poorly-written or poorly-edited.

2001: A Space Odyssey was a linear story, easy to follow and straightforward. It was also a dramatic adventure that made you think about the evolution of man and computers.

Inception had no drama, no insight, no philosophy. It was not linear- it jumped back and forth, in and out, in a thoroughly confusing manner. When you finally stitch all the disjointed pieces together, what was it? An ordinary thriller like any other template thriller out there.

Inception was Nolan’s take on the dream, I think it’s non-linear style was appropriate.

Also, the movie does make sense. It was hard to follow, sure, but after watching it a few more times myself I saw that the pieces do come together. For me, that’s where the film’s quality surfaced. Again, I didn’t enjoy the film half as much as films like The Fighter, or Raging Bull, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s not the type of film I can connect with in an emotional way, but it’s probably not supposed to be. Its plot is the main character so to speak.

By my estimation, that’s one of Nolan’s biggest criticisms, his “over attentiveness” to story telling. My understanding of that criticism, is that people feel that the characters are merely pawns in the story.

“Inception” was not in the slightest bit pretentious, by my reckoning. It intelligently considered the differences between dreams and reality. It also touched on how our perceptions affect our lives. You call it pretense; I call it brilliance.

The story it tells, however, IS indeed quite simple and straightforward: A man with a special talent loses the love of his life and very nearly loses himself, but he manages, with a great deal of help, to return to his happy reality in the end. It tells a timeless tale, one no less pertinent in this day and age than in the romanticized past.

The editing was beautifully accomplished and kept the progression clear and (relatively) smooth…By its nature, the film had to have a degree of topsy-turvy movement, but it added to the film’s overall atmosphere, its dramatic sensibilities, and DEFINITELY its action sequences (of which there were quite a few).

You, of course, will agree with none of what I just said…That’s fine; we are both allowed to have our opinions.

Pretentious. Thanks for proving the point of everyone who called it pretentious. People like to think that pretending to understand or like Inception makes them smart. It doesn’t, because the only reason it was hard to understand was horrible, disjointed editing and deliberate confusion of what was a dream and what wasn’t.

It wasn’t deep, challenging or profound. In fact, it was a boring, too-long, bland thriller: good guy fights bad guys. Really smart people can see when The Emperor is naked, and insecure people are pretending to see something that isn’t there.

So, now you’re calling me pretentious because I claim I understood it AND liked it. Wow, you just provided the perfect example of pretense…you. “Really smart people” indeed do see the naked emperor standing before them: a person who cuts down those who engage in intellectual pursuit because he disagrees either with their ultimate goal of discovering SOME manner of truth OR the path (one of the many, in this case) those people choose to reach that goal.

I see you.

You didn’t like the film and had major problems with it? Fine…not a problem and certainly as legitimate a stance as anyone else’s. Don’t insult those of us who DID enjoy and appreciate the film.

Archaeon just acknowledged the fact that the narrative movement of the film IS a bit “topsy-turvy”; in other words he agrees with you on the narrative being difficult to follow. By challenging him to say something he is not trying to say(or to admit something he does not believe), you are only derailing the argument, not proving a point. Archaeon’s point was: In the midst of a tricky, non-linear narrative, are characters with understandable motives.

The characters and their motives are the parts of the story that are straightforward, simple, and well, understandable.

Could the story have been told in a more linear fashion? Maybe, but the complexity of the dream and hence, the story itself, was essential to the characters’ dilemma. Besides that, dreams are commonly non-linear in the way they unfold. So, I think the non-linear narrative is justified, and appropriate for the story that Nolan wanted to tell. Sorry if I sound repetitive on that issue, but you keep arguing that the story was more complicated than necessary, and I think there was plenty of reason behind the decision to make the film the way it is.

Maybe a cheap metaphor would help me to express myself better on why I don’t think the film is pretentious.

Inception is like a puzzle. Puzzles can be challenging and hard to solve, but that doesn’t mean their intent is to be deep in a philosophical way, or profoundly moving to the human soul. Puzzles are not pretentious. It’s true that Eastern cultures can get pretty into the mathematical philosophy behind games like Go or Sudoku, but that’s beside the point. Inception was not preachy, it didn’t try to shove anything in anyone’s face, it wasn’t trying to be better than anyone, or other concepts, or other movies. It wasn’t trying to be something that it was not. It was, however, Nolan’s take on the dream. Through interviews Nolan has admitted to being fascinated by dreams. The man never claimed to be an expert, but he must’ve studied other people’s beliefs on dreams and adopted his own beliefs about them. After years of thought and hashing away at the story between other projects, Inception is the fiction that he came up with. The general consensus in the critical community is that Inception is detailed, thorough, and mostly free from plot holes (I didn’t notice any, maybe there are some). Notice I said nothing about whether or not the film was entertaining.

Now, if someone doesn’t like Inception because maybe it wasn’t entertaining to them, or maybe they thought it was too dry, or maybe the narrative style got on their nerves, then that’s totally fine. BUT, that doesn’t make it pretentious. I admit that there was a lot of snobbish discussion surrounding the film; I think a lot of people can attest to that who followed the comments and reactions to the film, including myself. I just don’t think it’s accurate to lay blame on the movie for what some of the fans brought to the table.

That cheap metaphor comment was an attempt to poke fun at myself. I am a maker of cheap metaphors. Sorry.

If you read the above comment, and that “cheap metaphor” remark the only thing that bugs you, I apologize for it. Heck, I apologize if I’ve angered you over anything. This has been an interesting discussion.

Sigh…I’m not sure why I was allowed to send that short response to Levi but NOT able to send the somewhat longer responses to Etrigan…? I tried TWICE yesterday and once just a few minutes ago; all three times I was told my response is spam and is not allowed.

WHY???

I’ve NEVER had that roblem before, and I have noticed lately that others (Sin, I believe, among others) have experienced the same annoyance.

I WILL keep trying, because summarizing the story of “Inception” is not a problem.

Imagine that you’re watching Fight Club. If you stay for the first 20 minutes only, how would the movie be looked at? It would have probably sucked to you. But by staying, you would realize what an epic film it was. If you want your opinion to be even considered as legitimate, please watch the whole film before you try and state your opinion.

The Academy are a bunch of old white guys. I heard on the radio that like 72% of them fit this demographic. Cannes is the awards ceremony I admire most, and I have discovered some really cool films from the international community. Oh, and “Drive” was actually respected and won Best Picture.

The Academy has good taste. The general public is a mass of morons. The law of averages means if you pander to the taste of the majority, then the most commercially successful movies will win the Oscars. Then you get the Grammys- awards for commercial crap rather than good music.

If old white guys give me the quality movies I want, then to hell with diversity. I’m a young black man, but quality is more important to me than pc diversity. The day ‘Twilight’ movies start winning Oscars is the day I tune off.

I half agree. The Academy clearly has good taste, but I think that they’re out of touch. Obviously, Best Picture shouldn’t go to commercial garbage like Twilight or Transformers…But are niche movies like The Artist, which probably won’t be well remembered even by film snobs as anything other than “that black and white movie that won an Oscar,” really all that much more deserving?

hmmm i don’t know why that should make a difference…there is no clear bias to be seen, just because you think certain people should win doesn’t mean they were cheated by “old white guys” fact is they are there for a reason. They know their stuff. I didnt agree with most of the winners / nominees but i respect their opinion.

I find those facts stupid. The academy isnt racist or sexist, there is just more white actors than any other race. Also there isn’t many girl directors the odds are agianst them. I do agree viola davis should have won best actress. Octavia spencer won a well deservered best supporting actor.

Unlike most movies that win Best Picture, “Drive” will continue to find its way into people’s disc players and onto their computer monitors (or whatever they watch movies on).

So, in that way, perhaps it’s fitting that it didn’t win… but, based on its quality, it should have been nominated… but, as anyone who studies the Oscars and the Academy members’ choices, quality isn’t first and foremost on their collective minds.

No offence to you and your family, but this is rpecisely why I like the Oscars the way they are. Call them out of touch if you want, but the day they start reflecting popular tastes like yours, and popcorn fantasy flicks like Harry Potter start winning Best Picture, then that is the day the Oscars become worthless.

Popular and good are not synonymous. Not in food, not in art, not in music, and not in movies.

I’m with etrigan HP doesn’t deserve a best picture nod. It was the conclusion of a 2 part last book. It wasn’t a movie it was a conclusion. The whole story was laid out in part 1 it just jumped right into action. I felt like I took a 1 year intermission. It was just action action action action. I prefer a story and character building in my movies.

Again harry potter is considered a snub…. I myself do not. It was a good movie but not near drive or 50/50 both which got snubbed. Harry potter to me was hurt cause the last film was 2 parts. Part 2 was just a conclusion of the first it wasn’t its own movie.

I still can’t believe Captain America’s “The Star Spangled Man” didn’t get a nomination for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture Anyway, I agree that HP7.2 should have gotten… MORE. (A nomination for VFX, art direction and makeup? pff, they got robbed of so much more: Best Picture of the Year).

I haven’t gotten round to seeing the other four films mentioned in this article, but I’m sure they all deserved a nod as well.

Here’s to hoping all those old farts from the Academy retire next year, and letting some new blood make it more sensible again 😉

I’m disappointed Ole’s Nick Nolte got snubbed. Also I agree with every movie on the list, even if most of my customer base at blockbuster hated Drive. When they tell me this I say (exactly this), “you don’t like movies and they cant dumb down everything.”

Transformers was robbed of the “Best in VFX” award yet again, and Rooney Mara was robbed of the “Best Actress” award. But having said that, it was a good show based upon the most important factor, the host. Billy Crystal was hilarious.

Transformers, even being the biggest turd in the history of mankind, should have gotten the nomination, at least, I mean, it sucks everywhere, except VFX.

Also I think The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was pretty neglected, not even a BEst Picture nomination. Rooney Mara was fantastic, but I haven’t watched The Iron Lady or The Help, so I don’t know if she should have won.

Drive and 50/50 were 2 of my top 3 favorite films this past year and it’s a shame that they got basically ignored. The nominations I thought each deserved, 50/50- Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Levitt), Supporting Actress (Kendrick). Drive- Best Picture, Best Director, Cinnematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Best Actor (Gosling), Supporting Actor (Brooks). But this is the Oscars. I’ve followed them since I was 10yrs old and every year it’s the same thing. I’m still scratching my head over last years best picture winner.

So, personally, I am a huge science fiction/action movie fan. However, I just didn’t enjoy the movie Super 8 as much as everybody else has. I was really hoping that the plot would have some kind of interaction with the alien (like E.T. which they said it was supposed to be like), but no. It was just the children’s experience. You could have taken the alien out of the film entirely and almost the entire film would not be affected. I just really couldn’t get into that movie. I do not understand why it was so popular. The train wreck scene was awesome, but that IMO was the highlight of the film.

I think you gave one reason a number of people disliked “Super 8″ right there in your first sentence: “huge science fiction/action movie fan”. Many people were expecting a LOT more action than what the film actually presented and felt disappointed. The reason it actually IS like “E.T.” is because of the sense of wonder and discovery, BUT it IS, of course, a different film with different goals and expectations from “E.T.”, not simply a modernizing of the “children encounter frustrated alien trying to get home” storyline.

For my part, I DID enjoy the film quite a bit. I found the story compelling, the characters well-acted and engaging, and the effects appropriate (nothing too complicated or revolutionary, but still good and a good fit). I also happily experienced a feeling of nostalgia remembering my beloved ’80s movies.

Come on everyone, The Academy Awards are for old, pretentious people that like to brag about reading the book before they saw the movie and for the rest of us we have the People’s Choice and MTV Movie Awards. However, I wish we could find a balance between the two. Adam Sandler won “best comedic actor” at the People’s Choice and Twilight always wins at the MTV movie awards. I would like a awards show that rewards good movies that have good acting, good story and are entertaining.

Deathly Hallows not being nominated is enough for me to write off these oscars altogether. The people that come up with these award nominations are such a small minority of the population of moviegoers, that for me, it does not make any sense to care for what they have to say.

How could Hallows not be nominated for best pic? Simply put, UNACCEPTABLE. These awards are a mockery and a joke